UNTIEDT, Dorothy Mae (Looney) 1928-2019

UNTIEDT, LOONEY, MCKERNAN

Posted By: K. L. Kittleson
Date: 1/22/2019 at 12:25:00

Dorothy Mae Untiedt

December 7, 1928 - January 19, 2019

Dorothy M. Untiedt, 90, of Landmark Commons, passed away from pneumonia on Saturday, January 19th, at Covenant Medical Center.

Dorothy was born December 7, 1928 in Elkader, IA, the daughter of Thomas and Helen McKernan Looney. She was raised with her four sisters and brother on a farm near Postville, which her father rented. It required a lot of hard work from each family member. At an early age, Dorothy chose the outdoor work – driving the tractor for haying and cutting oats, and milking the cows. The farmhouse didn’t have electricity or running water.

She attended a one room country school, where she never had another child in her grade until 9th grade. She either walked the 3½ miles to her country schoolhouse, or rode in the cream hauler’s old truck, a horse drawn sled in the winters, or on her black and white pony, Tony. Her father was always sick with a bad heart from rheumatic fever, so her mother depended upon her to drive to Elgin to pick-up up to 500 baby chicks at a time, buy the chicken feed, write the checks, and sell the DeKalb seed.

As Dorothy recalled, “Although we were poor, we had a mother and father that loved one another and taught us to love each other. I don’t remember any fighting or unhappiness.”

After graduation from Postville High School in 1947, Dorothy’s dream was to go to a city, get a job, earn some money, and have FUN! So she did!! She moved to Minneapolis with her two girlfriends, and was offered a job at New York Life Insurance, but she conditioned her acceptance upon her two girlfriends also being offered employment. All three of them were hired – one as a typist, and Dorothy and her other girlfriend went to work in the file room. But three months later, she had to return home when her father died. Her mother then held a farm sale, and the family moved to a beautiful brick house on Independence Avenue in Waterloo. Her mother ultimately bought and operated a laundromat in Cedar Falls. Dorothy got her next job at the National Bank of Waterloo.

One night in the summer of 1949, she joined a group of girls going to the dance at the Electric Park. In those days, the boys and girls lined up on separate sides. Right away, she made her pick – a tall, lean, handsome, shy boy that liked to dance – Lee Untiedt. Six months later, in January 1950, she married Lee, at St. John's Catholic Church in Waterloo.

They had four children together in a two bedroom house on West 6th Street. Before having their fifth child, Lee built a new house on Laurel Street, which remained their family home for 55 years. Dorothy was a wife, mother, and homemaker most of her life. Lee died of cancer in 2004. Dorothy moved to Landmark Commons in 2012.

Dorothy was a beautiful, spirited, fun loving, generous, resilient woman, a captivating Irish storyteller, quick to laugh, the life of a party, and the hub of many a phone conversation. She was family focused, yet interested in everyone around her – she never met a stranger! She was a loving and devoted wife, a selfless, compassionate mother to her five children, and an outspoken and often frank grandma.

Late in her life, Dorothy said she had only two regrets: not knowing her grandparents and not seeing her grandchildren (all of whom lived out of state) grow up. As Dorothy summed it up, “All in all, it’s been a good life!”

She is survived by: her 5 children, Debbie (Tim) Kaspar of Perham, MN, Gail (David) Bailey of Colorado Springs, CO, Steve (Laura Birkmeyer) of San Diego, CA, Terri Lux-Turner (Clay Turner) of Colorado Springs, and Julie (Clayton) Wilcox of Charlotte, N.C.; 14 grandchildren; 18 great-grandchildren; and 3 sisters, Donna Parkin, of Long Beach, CA, Julie Foley and Carol McFarland, both of Peoria, IL.

Dorothy was preceded in death by: her husband, Lee; a granddaughter, Hannah Wilcox; a sister, Kathleen DeMarini; and her brother, Jack Looney.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, January 23rd at St. Edward’s Catholic Church, with burial to follow at Mt. Olivet Cemetery. Following the funeral, a luncheon will be held at Landmark Commons at 1400 Maxhelen Blvd. in Waterloo. All are welcome.

SOURCE: Hagarty-Waychoff-Grarup funeral home